Saturday, September 20, 2014

Little Flower Skool

Last week I drove out to Esperance, NY, to the end of the world...
ahem, to World's End Farm. And I did a bit of schlepping buckets and a
bit of hauling wine, and a ton of talking to fascinating ladies from all
over the world about flowers and flowerbiznass.

I
was lucky to be asked to assist; I probably couldn't have afforded this workshop otherwise, though I think I should make a Floral Education line in my budget, going forward. The whole thing gave me a hit of culture
shock, in fact, that I'm still recovering from: that flowers could have
photo shoots, with silks and fruits (why this hadn't occurred to me,
given some of my favorite instagrams, I don't know), that anyone's
wedding budget could include the kind of money for fleurs that our class
examples did, that eating cheese in a field at sunset could make me so
happy, that puppies exist, that anywhere in the world there could be the
wall of flowers that had suddenly erupted here, or that any two people
could know the names of so many kinds of roses.

The
data bank that is Nicolette + Sarah is a rich trove, and it has leather
fringe and smells like roses (like a particularly beautiful and
strangely-named variety) and is super highly efficient.
Supplies are organized and ample. Discussions are constructed but
loose. Arrangements are like a choreographed dance, or as Nicolette
says, like "a series of connected moments."

There was so much photographing, so many serious thinking faces. I tried to be a sponge. And tonight, as I make arrangements
and corsages and boutonnieres for a last-days-of-summer wedding tomorrow, I
can feel some of what I absorbed working its magic. But I can also
respect the deft hands & eyes & floral decision-making skills of
N + S as I watch myself fumble.

about

I run Flower Scout, a burgeoning farm in and around Troy, NY, and sell organically-grown cut flowers and bouquets via CSA shares and to-order. Contact flowerscoutfarm@gmail.com for more information, and/or like Flower Scout on Facebook for updates.